We Can't Go Home
by Banshi13
Summary: Quiverwing Quack gets a visit from the one duck she least expects on patrol one night. Please Read and Review. This story is finished.
1. Chapter 1

Jeweled emerald eyes gazed over the sleeping city of St. Canard. It was her watch that night, and so far, nearing the witching hour, the town was in a fitful state of slumber and rest. It was a Friday night, which meant that down town St. Canard was going to be especially busy. Teenagers running in and out of clubs, adults that had had a hard day at work were heading to the bar and pool halls, and those kids that were lucky enough to have their parents out of town for the weekend were settling into the parties that said parents had strictly forbade.

All in all, the city was normal tonight. Business's were quietly shutting down, those that had stayed late on this Friday night were either heading home or out for late night drinks, and there were a few that had the unfortunate duty of manning the night shift for their employers.

Quiverwing Quack was one of those souls, the only difference being that she didn't consider it unfortunate at all. Her life had taken a wondrous and great turn since she'd been adopted by St. Canards super hero duck, Drake Mallard, a.k.a. Darkwing Duck. Instead of growing up as a ward of the state or in the walls of an orphanage until she reached the age of 18, she'd been fortunate enough to have the man that she couldn't imagine being anyone else but the most fantastic father in the world adopt her after rescuing her from Taurus Bulba. She'd lost every member of her blood family before she hit her double digit years, but Drake Mallard had taken her in, cared for her like his own flesh and blood daughter, and molded and groomed her for the position that she carried now.

Her father had by no means given up his way of life. At 37 years old, Drake was still very much alive and was kicking harder than ever. In the past nine years he had managed to foil almost every single plot that his and St. Canards enemies had ever conceived. Granted for the better part of those nine years, Darkwing Duck had been considered a vigilante, someone not worthy of the public's trust, and was more than scrutinize by a couple of agents within the very secret S.H.U.S.H. organization. But in the past two or three years, citizens had finally gotten through their heads that Darkwing Duck was possibly one of the very few reasons why St. Canard hadn't fallen to groups like F.O.W.L. or the Fearsome Five.

And now, they had a new hero to watch out for them; Quiverwing Quack. Since Darkwing had adopted her as his own, she'd wanted to be out in the field with him, taking down the notorious and doing away with evil. Her number one catch, which she still had yet to apprehend, was none other than Taurus Bulba himself. He'd murdered her grandfather, the only blood relative that she'd had left, come back twice afterwards to try once again to capture, and had put her father in such pains that he'd never felt before. The young woman was afraid of Bulba, she had no problem admitting it. The bull had haunted her dreams ever since she was a child. There were still some nights to this day, though far and few between, that Drake would have to come into her room and wake her from a particularly loud and rather violent nightmare. It would always take her a few moments to get her bearings, realize where she was, know that she was with those who loved her, and then, she would let the tears come. The last time that had happened had been just after her 16th birthday. It was a good thing that she'd decided not to have a sleep over that fateful night, as she would have been thoroughly embarrassed.

Gosalyn a.k.a. Quiverwing Quack, stepped up onto the ledge of the Audubon Tower and descended down the huge, curved piping. She made her way to her own water speeder, a gift for her from her father on her 17th birthday, that she'd humbly named _The Watermeyer_, a take off on her 'real' name, Waddlemeyer. Her father had felt that she should finally have her own bit of transportation, and he was far more comfortable with something like this rather than an automobile that could crash into any number of inconceivable places. With this bit of technology, Gosalyn would have the rule of the water, and, with the exception of the sometimes choppy water current, would stay relatively safe.

"_Qw, come in."_

Perfect timing, Dad Gosalyn thought as she brought her wrist up to her mouth, keeping one hand on the steering bar of the speeder. "Go ahead, Dw."

"_How are things looking tonight?"_

"It's looking quiet so far. Not a peep out of anything or anyone." She continued to speed towards the fast approaching docks, not once taking her eyes off the water route in front of her. "I think you'd say that it was too quiet." A soft chuckle was heard over speaker.

"_I probably would. Just remember, we're easing into this. If you spot any trouble, I want constant radio contact from you, do you understand?"_

Gosalyn sighed. Hadn't they had this conversation about 20 times already? "Yes, _DW_, I understand. I understood the last billion or so times we've talked about this, and that I 've done this. Relax, okay?"

"_Don't get snippy with me, little missy. This is no game you're playing here, F.O.W.L. or the Fearsome Five could come upon you at any moment. You've got to keep that mentality."_

This conversation was going no where fast, and Gosalyn decided to switch the subject to something more neutral as she pulled up to the private dock and secured her water speeder. She hopped up onto the hard paneled would and quickly made her way off the water's edge and into an ally way. Her ally way.

"How's Launchpad doing?" she asked as soon as he'd finished his lecture. She could hear the silence on the other end of the transmitter and could tell that her father was contemplating continuing his lecture with renewed fervor, or simply letting it go with the knowledge that yes, his daughter understood exactly what she was in for and what she was doing. He decided to go with the latter.

"_He's still tinkering away up here with the Thunderquack. He swears that there's something wrong with the engine, that he keeps hearing a hum that shouldn't be there, but I think he's just hearing things. He's probably nervous that you're out there all alone. You know how he gets."_

"Uh-huh," Gosalyn answered, not believing a word that she was hearing. Launchpad McQuack was one of the most laid back men that she knew, and she was certain that her father was explaining his own feelings of trepidation on her going on patrol by herself, not his sidekicks. "You should tell him to calm down. I've got everything under control." She took out her grappling hook, and, after a few rounds of circular swinging, flung the hook up to land on the roofs edge.

"_Are you at your perch?"_

"Almost, getting up there now," Quiverwing answered, pulling herself up the four story building and onto the roofs top. "And there I am. Can you see me?" She heard the rummaging over the wire and waited patiently for her father's answer.

"_Nope, can't see you."_

Gosalyn smiled. "Good. Over and out."

"_Be careful, Gos."_

She rolled her eyes. Nice one, Dad" and responded the way she'd been taught.

"I will, _DW._"

"_Atta' girl."_

The signal was cut and Gosalyn Mallard surveyed her surroundings. She was on her perch. Her roof, her turf. No-one, not her father, not Launchpad, not Morgana herself came here. Just like Darkwing had his perch atop the tower, this was Quiverwing Quacks. It didn't provide the best view of the city pursae, but it gave her the time to think and gather her thoughts before she went out on patrol. It was her sanctuary, a place that was as important to her as her room at home. No one intruded on her here, though there were three people in the universe that knew about it.

So, that was why she was unpleasantly surprised to hear the sound of footsteps coming from just to her right. Gosalyn was hidden in the shadows. She'd taken care to do that when she'd asked her father if he could see her. It was a test of sorts, to see if the veteran crime fighter could pick out her lavender and green costume within the dark spots of the building. He hadn't been able to, and she had silently given herself a pat on the back. She was wondering now if he'd lied to her to boost her confidence, or if she'd been seen scampering up the buildings wall.

She turned to face the intruder. Perhaps it was a night watch man, just doing his duty and checking up on the warf warehouses in the area. But her gut instinct told her that was not the case. Her instinct was also telling her that perhaps she should contact her father and let him know what was going on, but then again, what would she say to him? "Dad, this is your daughter, you know, the one that says she can handle herself? Well, there's somebody sneaking around on my rooftop." Gosalyn shook her head. Absolutely not. She didn't know if this was a thing yet. She wasn't about to get all bent out of shape about a couple of footsteps that she happened to hear.

She couldn't see him. She couldn't hear him anymore. But she could sense him. That much she was certain of. She took a step forward, her eyebrows narrowing in determination.

"Who's there?"

Nothing. No answer. Not a sound of movement or even a change in the wind. This only served to heighten Quiverwing's senses. Her body tensed. It seemed as though her green and lavender Robin Hood like outfit had become smaller. Her cape flapped in the wind, and her mask was crinkled along the edges where her eyes were trying to see in the dark night just who was in her company.

She heard him before she saw him; a rough, raspy voice, one that she was quite associated with from all of her adventures with Darkwing and Launchpad. This voice had, at one point, haunted her dreams almost as much as Taurus Bulba had. Though she hadn't had a nightmare about him for quite sometime, the unnerving knowledge that he was now back, not dead as she and her father had previously thought, was enough to make the feathers on the back of her now lean neck stand up on end.

"Well, well, well...haven't we grown up?" Negaduck's voice was as disgusting to her now as it was three years ago. He stepped from his hiding place in the shadows, arms crossed over his red, yellow, and black 40's suit, red fedora bent down on one side so as to hide his face. A smirk outlined his beak as he rested his gaze solely on her.

Okay, so, maybe this was one of those times that she should call Darkwing. Gosalyn had changed a lot from her days as a spirited young girl who believed without a shadow of a doubt that she could take on any and all villains in the universe. She'd grown, seen many things, and had calmed down almost immeasurably in the past couple of years that her father had been training her. She still held the same fire and spirit that drove her, but she'd learned over the years that it was beneficial to be cautious. If she had to take on Negaduck by herself, than she would, but it would be foolish to not try and inform Darkwing and Launchpad what was going on.

Negaduck seemed to read her mind.

"Don't even think about it, toots. Raise that wrist to your mouth and I'm going to raise _my_ wrist to your mouth, got it? Besides," Negaduck grinned, and it sent shivers down Gosalyn's spine. It was the smile of someone who'd already thought they'd won, "they wouldn't be able to receive you anyway. I jammed you after your conversation with Darkwing."

"What are you doing here?" Quiverwing stood strong, her bill up and proud. She wouldn't allow Negaduck to see that he worried her, not in the slightest bit. "What do you want? Another kick in the tail feathers?"

"Oh yea, you're definitely Darkwings protégé," Negaduck laughed aloud, shaking his head, "cocky and arrogant. For someone who's not even on her own in the super hero business yet, that's one hell of an attitude to have there, girly."

"The name's _Quiverwing Quack,_ Nega_dud_," she corrected, a glint of fire burning in her green eyes, "and we've got every reason to be cocky and arrogant. We weren't the ones falling from a cliff into a rocky gorge, were we?" Her adversary's eyes hardened almost instantly. "No. No you weren't." He was upon her in a mere moments, his face centimeters from hers, his hands, strong as metal, painfully gripping her upper arms. Gosalyn didn't have time to move, and she was now staring into the eyes of her fathers most hated enemy. Her back went rigidly straight, and though she very desperately wanted to look away, she knew that if she backed down now, she was all but lost. Negaduck had the control now, and both she and he knew it. She knew that the only way to gain it back was to stare him down.

"Oh, we've been busy, haven't we? Training with that miserable duck, learning all the tricks of the trade, practicing your ridiculous attempts at making the enemy believe you aren't afraid?" He sneered at her. "You definitely failed the class on that last one, toots." Quiverwing tried to open her mouth but found Negaduck's finger upon the lips of her beak. She took the hint.

Shut up.

"I want you to listen to me, toots, I want you to listen real, _real_ good." He pushed her hard up against a brick wall of the entrance to the roof from the building, and she couldn't help but let out a gasp of pain in return. "You and that menace and his dumb sidekick have been a thorn in my side for the past decade. Everywhere I turn, there he is, and recently, there _you_ are right beside him. And because you're so chummy with Darkwing Dork, I want you to give him a message for me." He leaned his face even closer to hers, so that he was whispering in her ear. Gosalyn knew that he could feel her trembling beneath him, and she damned herself for it. She was no longer Quiverwing Quack. She was just Gosalyn Mallard in a uniform. And Negaduck knew it.

Literally.

"There are going to be bruises on your arms tomorrow, make no mistake about that, but they won't come close to the number of marks I could show you when you made me loose my footing on that cliff three years ago. You're on the clock, little lady, you, and your old man." Gosalyn froze, and without wanting to, she stared up into Negaduck's eyes.

_He knew._

A sadistic smile twisted his features and he nodded. "That's right, girly...who would've thought that the spunky little red head that followed Darkwing Duck around all the time was actually _Drake Mallard's_ daughter?" He dragged a finger along her cheek.

"Who would have thought that Gosalyn Mallard would have grown up to be such a knock out?"

"_Negaduck, take your hands off of her!"_

Gosalyn had never thought she'd be so happy to see her father in all her life. She could see the disappointment in Negaduck's eyes, and wondered what else he'd had planned for her that evening. There were possibilities there that she didn't want to think about.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to show up," Negaduck was saying. Gosalyn fixed her eyes upon her father, and now Launchpad who seemed a little more keyed up than usual.

"Not long at all, now _get away from her_." Darkwing held his gas gun steadily and deadly, his eyes and tone brokering no room for argument or disobedience. His foe seemed to consider his options, and then calmly, and with frightening grace, stepped away from Gosalyn, giving her free room to move if she so chose.

She stayed right where she was.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Launchpad asked, not kindly. Negaduck shrugged. "I had some unfinished business that I needed to attend to. Like wiping a few ducks off the planet." He stepped back towards the ledge of the roof. He nodded towards Gosalyn, but kept his eyes on Darkwing. "You should train your little girl better, Darkwing. I could swear I saw tears in those pretty green eyes of hers."

And then, he was gone, having stepped off the ledge of the roof. Launchpad raced after him, trying to see where he'd landed. Darkwing was instantly at Gosalyn's side, pulling her gently from the wall and into his strong, safe, fatherly arms.

"He jammed the signal," was all she could say to him. She felt him nod against her shoulder, felt his fingers thread through her hair in an effort to calm him down. "He jammed the signal," she said again, and she pulled back from her father. The same look was in his eyes as was in hers.

"He's not back. He's _been_ back." She swallowed. Drake put an arm around her. "We're going home." She shook her head emphatically. "We can't. He knows...he knows our identities. He knows who we are...we can't go home. I can't go home." For Gosalyn, this was as heartbroken as she could get. Once again, her home had been ripped from underneath her.

"We'll go to the tower then. There's security there that the house doesn't have. We'll stay there for a few days."

"I tried to call for you...he'd jammed the communication already."

"I know. When I couldn't get through to you, I looked for your position again. I saw Negaduck standing in front of you. I came as quickly as I could," he assured her. His daughter just nodded. A tear escaped her eye, and while she normally would wipe it away quickly, this time, she simply let it trickle down a golden feathered cheek.

"We can't go home."


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own the following characters:

Drake Mallard a.k.a. Darkwing Duck

Gosalyn Mallard a.k.a. Quiverwing Quack

Honker Muddlefoot

Launchpad

Negaduck

This is the forth in a series of I don't know how many fictions about Darkwing Duck. I've been on a kick lately, and decided to put out some DW fics. These fics don't need to be read in any particular order, but they do tie into one another, so if you feel like reading all of them, go ahead, and you'll get back ground information on some of the events and issues that are written about in each story. I don't believe this to by my last fic, I have an idea for at least two more which I will begin ASAP.

There is one mistake though that I have caught. It is a bit of a spoiler however in what does happen, so if you wish to not read it, then stop reading...NOW.

In _We Can't Go Home_, Gosalyn makes mention of her water speeder that she got for her 17th birthday. I actually had her receive it as her sweet 16 present. Just a small mistake but it was driving me up a wall, so there you go. I hope you enjoy the fics and if you'd like, go ahead and look through my archive. I've got 20 more you can read.

Enjoy, and thank you again.


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